Baby also dies in Cambodia attack

The baby of the Dutch Daphna Beerdsen who was killed in Cambodia last week, has passed away, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced today. The baby, Dana, was only 19 months old, and was in a hospital in Bangkok in critical condition after she and her mother (31) were stabbed by a Cambodian man on the 28th of April. The baby had a blood clot in the brain, and was transported to a specialist facility in Bangkok, Thailand. According to the Algemeen Dagblad, the baby was found by a neighbor who came to the house of UN-worker Daphne and her husband after hearing screams. "The girl was lying between her mother, stabbed to death, and was still holding her hand. She was shaking all over her body", Deang Sophean (68) tells Cambodian media. Cambodian authorities arrested a 35-year old local man for the murder. He confessed to having stabbed Daphna and her baby with a screwdriver when she screamed for help after he tried to steal her bike. A spokesperson for the Department of Justice says the culprit did not mean to stab the 19-month old baby. "According to his confession it was not his intent to strike the girl. Maybe she was carrying the child during the struggle", the spokesperson said. According to the family's cleaner, the baby was still lying alive for half an hour as police took photographs of the scene of the crime, the AD reports. She was then taken to hospital per motor taxi. Police Chief Sok Sam Uth denied these accusations. "It is not true that we did not give the woman permission to take the child to the hospital. Our first priority is saving lives." Uth refused to comment further about the claims.